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Hailey Bieber’s ‘Priority Is Protecting Her Family’ Amid Speculation About Husband Justin’s Mental Health
Heads turned when Hailey Bieber stepped out of NYC’s Carlyle Hotel. Wearing a black double-breasted menswear-inspired Saint Laurent mini dress, sky-high patent leather heels and Tiffany & Co. diamonds, she waved to photographers with one hand while clutching a vodka cocktail in the other as she left for the Met Gala.
“One thing about me,” she wrote on her Instagram Stories following the glamorous May 5 event — which she attended solo — “is I’m gonna wear a blazer and drink a martini.”
Another thing about Hailey? She’s not going to answer questions about her husband, Justin Bieber, amid ongoing speculation over his health and well-being. Fresh concerns for the music star, 31 — who instead of attending the gala alongside his wife watched an NHL playoff game with friends, he revealed on Instagram — emerged one day earlier after he posted yet another image of himself using a bong.
Though it’s unclear exactly what he was smoking, the snap came weeks after he was spotted dancing and lighting up what fans believe was marijuana next to his 15-year-old brother, Jaxon, at California’s Coachella music festival in April, following months of similarly worrying behavior.
While his rep in February told TMZ the Grammy winner wasn’t using hard drugs, branding the “harmful narratives” about Justin’s mental and physical health and tired, gaunt appearance “exhausting,” Hailey, 28, is loath to publicly engage. “She refuses to make excuses or speak for Justin,” a source exclusively tells Life & Style. “The constant speculation about his mental state and their marriage has to be tough, but Hailey has a remarkable ability to stay calm. She is resilient and won’t take any crap.”
Hailey Bieber Is Focused on ‘Protecting Her Family’
After nearly seven years of marriage to a former child star who’s long courted controversy and been candid about his past issues with substance abuse and depression, Hailey’s figured out how to handle the attention. The model, influencer and founder of the skincare line Rhode — who gave birth to their first child, son Jack, in August — “makes and follows her own rules,” explains the source. “Friends say her priority is protecting her family. Justin and Jack come first, which is why she is tuning everyone else out. She’s focused on their
future, not the drama.”
That doesn’t mean facing the seemingly never ending chatter has been easy. Fans follow and react to Justin’s every move, so when he posts pictures with drug paraphernalia or confesses he’s dealing with imposter syndrome — as he did this spring in a heartbreaking Instagram message, admitting he’s “always felt unworthy, like I was a fraud” and “definitely feel[s] unequipped and unqualified most
days” — they worry.
So do friends and former members of the “Sorry” singer’s inner circle, many of whom he’s cut ties with over the last year, including former manager Scooter Braun, 43. “Whatever [Justin’s] going through, I pray for him and hope he’s OK,” songwriter Poo Bear, 45, a former collaborator, told The Hollywood Reporter in April. An ex member of Justin’s team further told the outlet “seeing him disintegrate like this” makes them think “he’s lost” and that “there’s no one protecting him.”
A source close to the “Love Yourself” hitmaker, however, insisted Justin isn’t in distress. “Artists are artists — they don’t look at the world the way you and I do,” that source told THR, claiming, “He’s healthier than all of us — physically and mentally.”
Hailey and Justin Are More ‘United’ Than Ever
Justin and Hailey have put on a united front. He’s been complimenting her social media posts — “I see it I like it and I want it,” he commented on her Met Gala pics — and accusing haters of being envious.
“Honestly if I was [you] it would be hard not to be jealous if I saw me and Hailey going so brazzzzyy,” he told his Insta followers in April. “Hailey and I are the Jones’s [sic] that are impossible to keep up with.”
Hailey’s previously vowed to support Justin through anything. Three years into their marriage, she recounted a difficult period early on when he was struggling with his mental health. “Imagine abandoning somebody in the middle of the worst time of their life,” she said on the “In Good Faith with Chelsea & Judah Smith” podcast, insisting, “I’m not that type of a person.” That hasn’t changed, the source confirms: “Those who know her best are proud of the strength Hailey’s shown.”
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